Starting with his deathbed remonstrance to Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperors were brought to their knees.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qing lunged forward, grabbed the sword from the ground, and slashed it across his own neck.

"puff!"

Blood splattered and spilled all over the ground.

The body, whose consciousness had been prematurely extracted by the system, twitched and twisted uncontrollably on the ground a few times before coming to a complete stop, lifeless and beyond dead.

"what!"

Zhu Biao let out a desolate roar.

He rushed to Li Qing's body, his eyes red and filled with grief and indignation as he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, his face full of despair.

"When will our Great Ming Dynasty produce such loyal and virtuous ministers again?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Biao, filled with grief and indignation, turned and ran wildly out of Fengtian Hall, disappearing at the end of the palace road with a roar.

Jiang Huan felt his scalp tingle and his soul nearly leave his body. He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, whose face was expressionless and whose emotions were hard to discern, and asked in a trembling voice:

"His Majesty?"

"What are you standing there for! Take men and protect His Highness the Crown Prince immediately!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave the order in a cold voice.

"Also, drag that good-for-nothing Zhan Hui away and execute him by a thousand cuts!"

Jiang Huan felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He quickly got up and ordered his subordinates to drag away Zhan Hui, who was still begging for mercy, while he hurriedly led his men to chase after Zhu Biao.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly walked to Li Qing's lifeless body and squatted down.

Such a gruesome and bloody scene, such a pungent smell of blood, was nothing new to him, a man who had spent his life on killing, and he felt no discomfort whatsoever.

Alas, what a pity for such a loyal minister.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and shouted:

"Someone come here!"

The guards outside the palace gates entered in response to the order and bowed to receive it.

"Issue my decree:"

Zhan Huimei bullied her superiors and subordinates, treating the Lantern Festival security and the supervision of officials as a joke, and mistreated her colleagues. Her crimes were heinous!

The Ministry of Justice was ordered to confiscate his property, execute all his direct relatives, and exile his collateral relatives to the frontier, never to return to the capital!

Also, give Chen Tao a proper burial.

"As you command!"

……

【Ding! 】

[The deathbed remonstrance has been completed, 6000 RMB has been earned, and the player is about to return to the modern era...]

"Sigh, I never imagined that he would end up committing suicide?"

Inside the rented room, Li Qingteng sat up abruptly on the bed and touched his neck.

Sure enough, I'll have to avoid Zhu Biao next time I have to remonstrate with my life.

"Although I am dead, Zhan Hui certainly won't survive either."

Li Qing thought to himself.

Given Zhu De's temper, Zhan Hui would definitely have been killed, so he could consider it a good deed.

It is our duty to reform the workplace of the Ming Dynasty!

He got out of bed, intending to go out for a walk.

With five days to go, there's plenty of time to prepare or explore.

Five days passed, and the system flashed white light, and Li Qing once again traveled to ancient times.

"Oh, so this time it's the Zhenguan era."

Looking at the familiar style of the courtyard, Li Qing realized that he had traveled back to the Tang Dynasty!

As Li Qing walked out of the house, the gate of the neighboring courtyard was also opened, and Wang Xin straightened his official robes and walked out of his house.

"Good morning, Brother Wang!"

Li Qing greeted the acquaintance.

Good morning, Brother Zhang!

Wang Xin also greeted him with a smile.

Li Qing's name this time is Zhang Ze, and his identity remains that of an imperial censor.

"Brother Wang, has anything major happened in the court lately?"

He wanted to determine the current time and decide which parts of his impassioned advice to use.

Wang Xin smiled and shook his head:

"Brother Zhang, you jest. What could be more significant than the passing of the Emperor Emeritus recently?"

"Ah, the Emperor Emeritus has passed away..."

Li Qing was stunned for a moment after hearing this.

Li Yuan has passed away?

Li Qing talked to Wang Xin again and finally understood.

It turns out that just three days ago, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the retired emperor Li Yuan, passed away.

Almost every official in Chang'an, the capital city, was aware of this news.

The passing of the retired emperor was naturally a major national event, and the first priority was how to arrange the funeral.

Before his death, Li Yuan left a will requesting that his funeral be conducted in accordance with the old customs of the Han Dynasty and that he keep vigil day and night.

At that time, state affairs will be handled by officials from the Three Departments and Six Ministries, and Crown Prince Li Chengqian will naturally have to assume the responsibility of overseeing the country.

Today, Chang'an is unusually quiet. The familiar bustling city life has completely disappeared, and even the vendors are silent.

The court officials passed through the Xuanwu Gate and filed into the Taiji Hall.

Everyone stood outside the hall, waiting for Li Shimin's arrival.

There was complete silence all around; no one dared to breathe too loudly.

Everyone knew that Li Shimin was in a terrible mood at this critical juncture, and he probably found everyone an eyesore.

Of course, Li Shimin was not a bloodthirsty tyrant.

They would never hold a grudge over a trivial mistake and drag someone out to be beheaded without a word.

But who among those standing here isn't a shrewd and calculating person? They all held their breath, none daring to provoke the emperor's wrath.

A moment later, Li Shimin appeared with Crown Prince Li Chengqian and his entourage.

"Welcome, Your Majesty!"

The courtiers hurriedly bowed in greeting.

Li Shimin, his eyes red and swollen, remained silent, followed by Crown Prince Li Chengqian, whose eyes were also red, as they strode into the Taiji Hall.

The courtiers quickly followed suit, with Li Qing trailing behind as usual, his mind racing as he pondered which angle to take in his remonstrance.

Li Shimin was ranked first, and his voice was already slightly hoarse when he spoke.

For Li Yuan, death was both a relief from a heavy burden and a heart-wrenching pain.

After all, Li Yuan had been quite protective of the three brothers back then, and some genuine affection still remained between the father and sons.

Eight years have passed quietly, and all the resentment of the past has long since vanished.

Moreover, Li Shimin was naturally very easily moved to tears, making him arguably the most prone to crying among all emperors throughout history.

However, his crying was always a natural expression of his heartfelt feelings, and never a cowardly or incompetent affectation.

"My lords, the late Emperor Emeritus instructed me on his deathbed that he be buried according to the rites of the Han Dynasty, and that his mausoleum be kept as simple as possible."

"Does anyone have any good ideas?"

The ministers were already confident of their decision—after hearing the news yesterday, they had been discussing it all night.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the Emperor Emeritus was compassionate to all people and his kindness was boundless. Therefore, we should follow his last wishes and keep everything simple."

Yu Shinan was the first to step forward, cupping his hands and bowing.

He had a close personal relationship with Li Yuan and was eager to earn a good reputation for his former master.

Before he finished speaking, Fang Xuanling also stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the Emperor Emeritus founded the Tang Dynasty, and his achievements will be remembered for generations. According to the rites of the Han Dynasty, he should be honored with a mausoleum six zhang high, just like Emperor Guangwu's mausoleum!"

Changsun Wuji, Gao Shilian, Lu Deming, Kong Yingda, Wang Gui, and others then filed out of the class.

Everyone has their own little schemes going on inside their heads.

Some people worry that the mausoleum is too extravagant, while others feel that the scale is not grand enough.

After all, building an imperial mausoleum is incredibly expensive, requiring astronomical sums of money, manpower, and materials.

Just then, Li Qing suddenly stepped forward and shouted loudly in front of all the civil and military officials in the hall:

"Your Majesty! I advise you to save your breath for all that fancy pomp and circumstance! The Emperor Emeritus himself said to keep it simple, but you insist on making a big fuss over nothing. Aren't you just asking for trouble?"

Let me preface this by saying the most unpleasant thing: the more lavish the tomb is built and the more abundant the burial goods are, the more envious tomb robbers will be hundreds of years later!

When the grave is dug up and the remains are dragged out to be exposed to the elements, how can the retired emperor rest in peace? This disgrace is not just to others, but to your Li family, and to the entire Tang Dynasty!

Conversely, the interior is completely empty, so much so that even thieves wouldn't bother digging, allowing the retired emperor to rest peacefully in peace! Didn't His Majesty ever consider this?